Auli

I should have known that this was going to be a special tour when i searched for the proposed route . Let me start from the beginning. we had planned a trip of four nights stay maximum which was supposed to go like this Delhi- to Binsar near Almora ( 2 nights- free holiday by club mahindra hee hee!) then proceed on to Auli. Until Binsar it was fine. but when I looked up the route from Binsar to Auli / Joshimath, the only coherent results that came up spoke of the great journey that Adi Shankaracharya had taken up to Joshimath. I mean if nothing has been updated since then, gracious! it wasn't good news. Hitting a blank we had to resort to other sources. We looked up a map , traced the thickest lines ( highways) and charted our own route. So on the d - day .... wait a minute how do I proceed . Day wise . or in detail? Umm let me go in day wise detail .

Day I- we started at 11 pm hoping to reach Nainital in the early morning , covering the plain portion at night and enjoying the hills during the day. But after proceeding a few kms we came upon a big big jam. traffic jam! and the traffic was moving at the rate of 5cm/hr and that too it just slided down due to maybe micro tremors they say that keep on occurring. After trying to find the cause of the jam - as if that would help, we lied back in the seats and just tried to make ourselves comfortable which we did because when my husband shook me awake it was a around 5.30 am and the traffic had started moving again. My husband was in hurry to reach nainital as soon as possible. It was around 11 am in the morning when we finally reached nainitaal. Just stopped for a late break fast or rather a brunch and proceeded on towards Almora. on the way we made a detour to the Taals - bhimtaal , naukuchiya taal and saat tal.

Day 2- At Bhimtaal we had a flat tyre, but luckily there was a puncture shop and got it repaired in no time. Loitered around in Bhimtaal. clicked photos and we were off towards naukuchiya taal where we grabbed some grub again. Now the distances are not that far away but why had we reached up to naukuchiya taal only, by evening tea time???? Well because the usual speed of travelling in the mountain are lowered due to the gradient! Nyah! its because mostly it happens so, that we go- 3km then click click, another three km and again click click , but why ? Oh dear! the angle of the landscape changes approximately at 3 km. But Coming back to the trip , after a late lunch in naukuchiya taal we proceeded on to saat taal a seeming convergence of 7 lakes. it was way down and was almost hidden by thick woods - thickly wooded ,dark. Again some snaps . Viewing the lake at all the angles possible and then proceeded to almora. Half way My ma in law who was with us suddenly exclaimed that her purse containing 10,000 rs. cash , gold earrings and a set of house keys were missing . she must have dropped it. Great! we retraced our steps . this time there was no clickety click . after all the matter was serious, but alas, it was gone. probably some lucky man got it or may be an unlucky monkey!( what a waste that would be). As there was nothing to be done we Finally proceeded to Almora. It was around 8 pm when we reached almora. we had another hour drive ahead of us to reach Binsar. It was dark - An almost obvious occurrence when we travel. we always reach our destination after dark. On the way we came across a small ?hamlet? ghost town which was appropriately named KABARKHAAL.(cemetery) How creepy. Not a soul could be seen. Neither with body nor the body less variety.By 9 - 9.30 pm we finally reached The warmth of our resort in Binsar.
Day 3- Woke up early in the morning. started getting ready. our plan was to cover Almora, Ranikhet and Kasauni. But we got delayed in setting out. We reached Almora and looked around a bit. It appeared to be more impressive when we saw from a distance but when we reached, we found it to be commercially bustling town teeming with humanity. After looking around for sometime we decided to leave for quieter areas. We started towards Kasauni. The drive was scenic and we had started enjoying our self when suddenly the tyre gave away. Another flat tyre. 2nd in a trip. My husband tried to fix it but what luck! the jack got stuck. we had to flag down a passing tempo and get the tyre changed. Setback of an hour. My husband wanted to get the leaking tube repaired as soon as possible , so we stopped in the next village to get it repaired. A small group of mixed bag of young and old people were playing the drums , singing and dancing- - celebrating holi! while our tyre tube was being repaired we let ourselves be entertained by the celebrating people. They looked so happy, without a care! Bringing a smile to every one's lips... How my illusion was about to be broken.... ! But that in another blog. The next one.
P.S The great driving challenge is getting an awesome response from all. How I wish our profile had got some too! Sigh!